Author Topic: Tanking guidebook  (Read 3114 times)

Offline CHRISTIEFRONTDRIVE

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Tanking guidebook
« on: 17-06-2012, 08:06:37 »
Would like to make a bit of a guide to tanking, a scrapbook of tips, for FH2, because it occurred to me today I don't think I've gotten any better tanking the more I've played. I know I'm a better inf player than I was a month ago, for example, but I feel like I've peaked tanking and I still run into a fair amount of situations where I sit like a duck in the middle of the battlefield, trying to decide what to do next.

So here's a thread for anyone and everyone to post tanking questions, share tips and tricks, give advice etc.

Here are a few of my tips:

1- Never underestimate the power of smoke shells. The uses for them are infinite: cover yourself while repairing, allow teammates to advance on a flag, all obvious uses for it, but they aren't the only ones. Fire a smoke shell on the route of attack you/your team isn't taking, and enjoy watching the enemy prepare to defend only to be shot in the ass a minute later. If you spot a tank you have no chance of taking out, fire a smoke shell right at him to blind him and freak him out a bit. I shot a smoke shell at the KT on Goodwood in my very early days of FH2 and watched him charge blindly through the smoke only to drive right across the line of sight of our Firefly.

2- Relocate, relocate, relocate. Just generally whatever you're doing in FH2 this is good advice but especially tanking. I spend enough time thinking 'Now where the fuck did that Panther go?' while nervously holding my PIAT to my chest and running around like a headless chicken to know that you should never remain in the same spot for more than 20 or 30 seconds. Having been blasted out of my M36 on Meuse a few days ago the first two times I sat still to defend a flag, the next time I played the round that I got the M36 I made a point to zoom around the map as best I could, never standing still for any longer than it took to fire a shell. That round, I took out 13 tanks before I died, including the Jagdpanther and KT twice each. I ran out of HVAP, used half my HE, ran out of smoke shells and had only three normal AP rounds left. One magical killstreak doesn't prove anything, but when you're tanking try to remember how more effective you are when the enemy is thinking 'Where did he go?' and trying to update his team on your location, then for him to be on the otherside of the wall listening to your engine while directing comrades to your position.

3- Know your goal and stick to it. I said in the M1 Carbine tips thread I liked the US engy kit because it allowed me to deal with anything the enemy throws at me, and I approach tanking the opposite way. I try to have a goal in mind - slaughter inf, attack enemy tanks, be a distraction, etc. and I stick to it. Don't take a Sherman to try and hunt Panthers on Cobra - take a Sherman to blow the city flags to kingdom come. Don't take an M10 and switch to HE every time you see a crunchie running along a road - ignore him and continue hunting for armor. It seems counter-intuitive but it is often beneficial, I find, to do this. If you switch to HE and nail that German running along in front of you, that tells the Panzer IV that may be just out of site you're reloading, and probably reloading HE. The Sherman is horrible for tank hunting, everyone knows that, but it may be the best anti-inf tank in the game. Grab it on Goodwood and if you see armor, high-tail it out of there and go for more squishies. Grab a fast tank and be a distraction to enemy forces to allow other tanks to attack.

I'll start us off with some questions and hopefully some of you can chime in with your own questions in here.

1- What kit do you usually take? I never take limited ones (no one should), but often I find myself taking scout kits instead of engineer kits, the thinking being I'm in a Sherman and likely to be 1-shot killed anyway, so I may as well take a kit with binoculars to maybe spy other tanks in the distance before they see me.

2- Is there a way to stop your tank moving when you're not perfectly level? Anti-tank guns when you stop rolling them have a 5ish second wait before they stop rolling, and then they're nice and still. Tanks don't seem to have this luxury as far as I can see, apart from switching to another position, letting the tank stop (engine off), and then going back to position 1. This (rarely) works.

3- Do you guys load special ammo first or save it? I used to try to save them but too often I'd come over a hill and be killed by a tank I could've killed first had I had the special ammo loaded, so now I load it first and hope for the best. The only time I don't do this is when I have the M36 on Meuse, where I use normal AP until I spot the KT.
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Offline Comrade Roe

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Re: Tanking guidebook
« Reply #1 on: 18-06-2012, 18:06:33 »
I personally always keep AP loaded, especially in anything with a coaxial machine gun. Also, any tank destroyer needs infantry cover, because it can get surrounded quick, as the TDs have no coax whatsoever.

Also, I agree, sherman is terrible for AT, but great for Anti-personnel. Also an ideal use for Panzer IVs and earlier, unless it's early North Africa and everyone has a gun smaller than 76mm (excluding Tiger on Mareth Line).

Also, if you have friends, you could try wolf packs of tanks on tank maps. Everyone in the group grabs a tank, moves together, and if one dies, the killer sh*ts his pants when he sees all the shells coming at him.

Offline CHRISTIEFRONTDRIVE

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Re: Tanking guidebook
« Reply #2 on: 19-06-2012, 17:06:32 »
See that's interesting, because I always try to predict what I'll encounter next and load the appropriate shell. I understand the thinking that if you have AP loaded you can deal with both tanks and inf but it never seems to work out for me :D.

Something I forget in the OP was a tip about mouse sensitivity - I turn mine down from default for tanking. I think it's at 0.40 or 0.30 right now, as opposed to 1.00 for default. The negative is slower turret speed, and the positive is way, way easier time aiming. Most of the time you should be turning your tank anyway, and this has the added bonus of making the Puma and the Greyhound easier to handle. I'd definitely suggest giving it a try in tanks.
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Offline CHRISTIEFRONTDRIVE

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Re: Tanking guidebook
« Reply #3 on: 24-06-2012, 23:06:13 »
Sure wish more people posted in the tactics section.

Ahh well, one more tip for tanking, maybe it's obvious, is use free look as much as you can and always keep the main gun aimed at the most likely enemy positions - never turn the turret just to look somewhere, that's what the ctrl key is for. Likely clear from the above post but generally I try to be a cautious, patient player (ping doesn't really allow me to fly in guns a-blazin', generally) but there are times that you need to fire very quickly in a tank and if you're driving one way but with your gun pointed where the enemy is likely to show  up, you will have an advantage.

A perfect example is on Meuse River, when crossed the bridges - keep the gun pointed towards the assumed enemy positions while using free look to check for fausts/zooks.
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Offline dead_man1876

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Re: Tanking guidebook
« Reply #4 on: 08-07-2012, 22:07:38 »
sometime it helps taking a fast firing kit like smg, m1 carbine or garand in order to jump out and kill the approaching geballte, smiling at him, while he is in doubt about changing weapon.
« Last Edit: 08-07-2012, 22:07:10 by dead_man1876 »

Offline Airshark79

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Re: Tanking guidebook
« Reply #5 on: 31-07-2014, 15:07:02 »
Most important of all is to get to the gunner seat, only tanks you can hear can hit you.

SHUT THAT DAMN ENGINE OFF.

I am sick of lack of challenge in vossenack and others with tanks and forests, or bocage. bocage. grrr.

Offline djinn

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Re: Tanking guidebook
« Reply #6 on: 04-08-2014, 01:08:06 »
My 2 cents

1. Never go it alone. Even the Panther and Tiger serve more of a purpose with infantry.
2. spot as you fire, especially on tank heavy maps so that other tanks can engage also, whether you survive or not.
3. Don't fire mg unless you have to. tracers are the telll-tale sign of armor.
4. Use free look. I get much more situational awareness and survived many tank encounters by realizing there was a tank behind some building and intercepting it.

5. Know your tank's armor and use it for best effect. The Hertzer, panther have pretty good front armor. The Panzer IV does not.

6. Where possible, engage enemy from the hull down position, using a ditch or other to make yourself a small target and perhaps make use of that solid turret armor.

7. A rule of thumb when working with infantry, call for spots on enemy tanks in the area (They are happy to do it cuz they fear them), keep behind the infantry and use mg when firing close to them and HE when firing else where or it's danger just too damn close.

8. The kindest thing a tank can do to help infantry is to fire into tall structures eg. Church towers, dominating 2-storey buildings, the top of water towers etc, many tanks play as though they are infantry with bigger guns. You role is tactical, not just about combat.
« Last Edit: 04-08-2014, 01:08:22 by djinn »

Offline Martinlegend

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Re: Tanking guidebook
« Reply #7 on: 11-08-2014, 10:08:41 »
if possible, take a front mg gunner with you
he can spot enemy tank in front and can block roads while the turret can secure the flanks
(ist much better wehen you know that there are no enemy tanks like in the first stages of Port en bessin or anctoville)

the best tank - which has a huge ptental in this tactic is the Grant tank in Sidi bou zid

1 front gunner(and driver) watches front
2. gunner (Big turret) secures against small fast moving vehicles that the front gunner cant aim so well because of the slow movement of the tank
3. the small mg turret on the top - which can act as a infantry Support weapon or to cover the rear against infantry

the last two can cover the flanks (left AND right) which gives this tank a big plus! - and they can watch for other enemys and spot the for the big gun!

the best Thing about this is the fact the the other two gunners doesnt Need the direction of the tank to aim their Targets - like the front mg gunners which will be mostly forgotten

and maybe the Grant Needs a littlebit of coordination for using his full potential

Offline Surfbird

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Re: Tanking guidebook
« Reply #8 on: 11-08-2014, 10:08:30 »
I think it definitely needs very good coordination.

The problem is that its silhouette is so damn large that it's an easy tank to spot and to hit. The Grant/Lee can be good if played with 2 people who are coordinated. Problem is that when the tank is driving the gunner on the top turret is gonna have trouble to aim properly. For a static position that you switch up after some time it can work well, but you will generally need to watch out for AT inf, which are one major threat to this thing as well.

As the silhouette is very high and due to the low speed it's a good target for the enemy planes and when there are tanks to its side it can get killed quite quickly on long range too. As again, the silhouette is around twice as large as the one of the Crusader. In desert with few cover and vegetation this is not the best property to have, at least not in FH2.

As you said, it can do a lot better with 2 coordinated people in it than to the effectiveness it's used in average. It works best on Sidi (it's an American Lee tank there btw) and Mersa Matruh from my experience. On Gazala the Stuka will get you and you are very exposed, on Alam Halfa it's pretty much front to front tanking, so it does decent as some kind of semi-static gun in a defensive position. The gunner spot is not really needed though, it excels there due to its frontal armour and main gun. But as this thing is uncapable of flanking moves, you have to choose your spot wisely. Same goes for El Alamein.

Except I'm playing with a mate in Teamspeak for some tanking fun in a Grant which happens once in a while, I'd usually choose the Crusader over a Grant for being faster, having lower sillhouette and therefore being more versatile. It's an interesting topic though as this thing might have a lot more potential if played correctly.

Offline Martinlegend

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Re: Tanking guidebook
« Reply #9 on: 11-08-2014, 12:08:01 »
the top mg gunner in the small turret can take care of advancing infantry nearby - so you can Need 3 good guys (i would like to say that this mg is the best one  ever used on a tank because it has a 360 degree movement)

im specially favoring the grant on sidi bouzid because the Color of the tank is prety similar to that of the Vegetation whcih makes it littlebit harder to locate

for sure the grant is easy to spot on gazala - ive never played it because of the air danger on this map

but on sidi bou zid the tank can well be hidden under trees  against air  forces